Autism World – The Upcoming Mark Geier Appeal… Part One – What’s at Stake Here?

Court cases can drag on forever. That’s just their nature. There are several US cases going on right now that are significant to the Autism World, one of which is the Mark Geier versus the Maryland Medical Board, a case which is simply waiting out the required timing to be filed in a real court. Since the Autism World situation is without doubt, a microcosm of what is happening in US, and world, health care, the case is also of importance to the North American Health Freedom Movement.

In the Geier case the completely corrupt Maryland Medical Board went through a lengthy, required, Administrative Procedure, dragging out the process as long a they could, and used the process rules to issue ONLY their version of what was really going on. They wrote their documents to make the Geiers, father and son, look like criminals, fools, dolts, monsters, etc. Of major importance here is that the Board documents, were released to the public through their relationship with the “skeptics,” the online hate group responsible for the recent rape, mutilation, and death threats against Meryl Dorey, one of the leaders of the Australian Vaccine Network (AVN).

But today, lets focus on the upcoming Mark Geier versus the Maryland Medical Board case. Why? Because the issues involved in it are of utmost importance to the Autism community, and their interests. The Autism community has formally decided that it will protect those health practitioners that try to find solutions for them – as they are doing in the Andy Wakefield case, and more.

In short, different practitioners, like Wakefield, Geier, Usman, Rossignol, Caquias, have come under fire from the organized Vaccine Construction because of one simple reason. They identify specific Autism problems, and identify specific Autism solutions. Officialdom has proclaimed that “we don’t know why this is happening, so there are NO solutions.” And, they stay with that nonsense. More, they try to enforce that position with activities detrimental to those practitioners – like using regulatory agencies (Medical Boards in the US and Britain, federal agencies,) media assaults from Quackwatch, the “skeptics,” and once great, but now skanky, news outlets like the Chicago Tribune.

There is a whole massive attack planned against the Maryland Medical Board – and frankly, they will not survive what’s coming. The Maryland Board is going to go the way that Texas just went (total defeat and reconstruction), and the way California went years ago. Mark my words.

The heart of the matter…

Have you ever wondered why medical issues like Autism, and other neurological issues, persist in our society? A society that can go to the moon and back, make cars that can park themselves, invent cell phones that provide so much activity and information at your fingertips?

It doesn’t seem to make sense that Autism can’t be stopped and reversed. Or does it?

I have the explanation. The answer. The reason why Autism persists. I’ll show you. Keep reading.

Let’s start with this…

In the closing arguments of the Maryland Board of Physicians versus Mark Geier MD, PhD, Victoria Pepper, the bitter, angry, prosecutor for the Maryland Board of Physicians stated:

Just because it works…

Just because it works…

Just because it works, Doctor Geier thinks it’s OK…

What she was referring to was Mark Geier’s Lupron Protocol for Autistic children. Pepper had, over a year before, called up the “Summary Suspension” provisions of Maryland medical law, screech/screaming that Geier, and the Lupron Protocol for Autistic children, were an immediate danger to the public and that the medical board needed to stop Geier from practicing medicine immediately. The Board, based on her screech/screaming over the Lupron Protocol DID summarily suspend Geier’s license – which then caused his medical license in ten other States to be automatically suspended.

Strangely though, she lost that argument during the hearing, and the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) made it clear what her opinion in this matter was. Pepper was losing the argument, and her words, shown above, were her reaction.

In the hearing every one of Pepper’s anti-Lupron arguments had been dismembered. Every one. It had been shown that Lupron was VERY safe, and VERY effective. Pepper had a big problem.

Pepper had claimed that:

The Respondent misdiagnosed autistic children…and treated them with potent hormonal therapy …and in some instances, chelation therapy, both of which have a substantial risk of both short-term and long-term adverse side effects. The Respondent’s treatment exposed children to needless risk of harm. (Amended Charges at15);

The Respondent endangers autistic children and exploits their parents by administering to the children a treatment protocol that has a known substantial risk of serious harm and which is neither consistent with evidence-based medicine nor generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. (Amended Charges at17).

Pepper had subpoenaed five patient records to prove her claim. But, the parents of the patients she subpoenaed had ONLY GOOD THINGS TO SAY about the Protocol results. They ALL came to testify on Mark Geier’s behalf, coming from as far away as Nigeria. The judge said in her proposed decision:

The State has argued that the Respondent’s therapy was a sham that deceived not only the parents of the Patients in this hearing but hundreds, perhaps thousands of others. It might have been possible to believe that argument, but for the testimony of the Parents. Everyone of the parents who testified are highly educated professionals: teachers, nurses, and a lawyer. Each has been on reconnaissance for treatments for years and was fully familiar with what worked for their child and what did not. All of these parents whose children had received treatment and who testified argued passionately that they saw significant improvement in their children because of the therapy the Respondent offered. I cannot discount their experiences as the wishful thinking of deluded, desperate parents.

More, she said:

The Respondent’s theory that aggressive and hypersexual behaviors in children with autism is a result of an excess of testosterone, built up in their bodies because of an unusually high prevalence in that population of a genetic polymorphism in the MTHFR gene, was demonstrated in every Patient Record. The pattern was so consistent that one might believe the theory had been created to match the facts, but, the Respondent’s theory was advanced and published prior to 2005 when the Respondent first began to work with children with autism. The Respondent’s testimony, supported by the Records and collaborated by Dr. Kartzinel, was sufficient to convince me that the administration of Lupron to these children as a means of reducing the high levels of testosterone in their bodies – a technique that has produced no adverse side-effects – is preferable to the administration of psychotropic drugs such as Risperdal that do carry serious and immediate side-effects.

As you can see – In the hearing every one of Pepper’s anti-Lupron arguments had been dismembered. Every one. But that DID NOT MATTER to Pepper, nor those she represented.

Let’s look, once more, at what Pepper said:

Just because it works…

Just because it works…

Just because it works, Doctor Geier thinks it’s OK…

Think about what she was saying. She was making it very clear that fixing Autism was “not OK.” She was making it clear that even TREATING Autism was “not OK.” That was the State’s case.

I’ll bet the parents, grandparents, church friends, neighbors, close friends, schools, State funded programs, you-name-it, of the two million Autistic children in the US might just disagree. A lot.

The explanation. The answer. The reason why Autism persists…

Let’s ask the original question once again: “Have you ever wondered why medical issues like Autism, and other neurological issues, persist in our society?”

The answer, unbelievable as it sounds: “Because, in officialdom, it is NOT OK to fix them. It is not even OK to treat them.”

The Maryland Board of Physicians, despite proof that Geier was doing the right things, in every instance, removed his license to practice medicine, and in the way they did it, with a “Summary Suspension” caused him to lose his license in ten other States. And, what Geier was doing worked. Quite well.

What, in their explanation, was Geier’s supposed “Immediate Danger to the Public?” The fact that, as they claimed, the Standard of Care for Autism was to do nothing – so to them, Geier violated the Standard of Care by doing anything at all. Even more horrendous to the Maryland Board was the fact that what Geier was doing, the Lupron Protocol for Autistic children actually works very well, and was proven to do so, overwhelmingly, in court.

Why is it not OK to fix Autism?

Because, to fix it, you have to first identify what is causing Autism, and, in doing that you are, inevitably, pointing at the vaccine industry and the government bureaucratic construction surrounding it. Doing that puts all that at risk. And, consequently, puts anyone pointing at the problem at risk – like Mark and David Geier, Andy Wakefield, etc., at risk also.

Here is how we got to this point…

Ignore, for a minute, the huge pressures put on by the Vaccine Construction. Let’s just focus, for now, on the mechanism used to stop doctors from treating Autism at every turn – pressure from State Licensing Boards.

Licensing boards in every state in the union are designated the responsibility of regulating the professional activities of those it licenses. Every state has a myriad of professions it chooses to keep an eye on: Building Contractors, Real Estate Salesmen, Landscape Architects, Accountants, Interior Designers, Engineers, Social Workers, etc…

Licensing boards generally operate in exactly the same way no matter what the profession they regulate. In each case there is going to be an appointed Board Member situation and a staff. Generally each State Legislature has passed laws indicating the level of regulation it wants enforced on each profession. In almost every case those agencies develop enforcement guidelines that adhere to what are called “Due Process” standards. And, interior methods are employed to make the complaint system handle the load coming in from consumers.

In essence it is a system that works most of the time.

Most of the time.

Over the years, however, it became obvious that the raw power of the licensing board members and employees over the licensees could and would be abused. More, board members could and would view their board appointments as symbolic, a title to drop in conversation to impress, or coerce, others into some activity. Then too, staff members are always bureaucrats – so the tendency to find less work for more pay, or the appearance of work by generating more paperwork can predominate. Especially since, for the most part, there is never any real oversight over a board’s activities.

Legislators began to be pressured by victims, and victim representatives from two different camps: (1) consumers who were NOT seeing bad operators dealt with, and (2) professionals that found themselves abused by the board staff or members.

Then a process called “Sunset Review” came along, and most State legislatures adopted laws enforcing the concept.

A sunset review is an evaluation of the need for the continued existence of a program or an agency. It allows for an assessment of the effectiveness and performance of the program or agency. The review yields a recommendation to either (1) retain the program or agency as is; (2) modify the program or agency; or (3) allow the program or agency to terminate, including the repeal of the relevant statutes.

The State of Maryland has a sunset review process, and as I have written about before, it has become obvious, from written reports, that the Maryland Board of Physicians has been dragged down to the Principal’s Office – en masse. You can read about it here.

The Maryland Board of Physicians has demonstrated, not only to its victims, but to the Maryland legislature that it is, in fact, in contention for the title of “Most Corrupt, Most Incompetently Run, Furthest From Due Process” of any of the medical boards operating in the United States.

Why is the Maryland Board in trouble? There is a myriad of reasons, but the one most striking is the board members’ and staff’s outright refusal to embrace “Due Process” for the licensees it is supposed to regulate. They have, as a unit, told the Maryland legislature that they are NOT going to follow “Due Process” standards laid down by the legislature, and have, in fact, told the legislature to change the laws (now, there’s an interesting concept). The tail wagging the dog.

More, and this isn’t really funny, the Board spent money to go out and get a counter-report written whitewashing the legislature’s sunset review, boldly suggesting that even more removal of “Due Process” would make them more efficient. Like “Give us more money and power, remove accountability, stay out of our way, and we’ll do wonderful things…” Yeah, right. A bureaucrat’s dream.

But, let’s get to the point..

I write a lot about “Due Process.” For, in my experience, some government agencies involved in regulating health care drop any semblance of “Due Process” once they are faced with complaints about emerging and cutting-edge, non status-quo, health care offerings. Why? Good question.

Why is “Due Process” important? Here is an excerpt from a learned article about it:

The constitutional guarantee of due process of law, found in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, prohibits all levels of government from arbitrarily or unfairly depriving individuals of their basic constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. The DUE PROCESS CLAUSE of the FIFTH AMENDMENT, ratified in 1791, asserts that no person shall “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” This amendment restricts the powers of the federal government and applies only to actions by it. The Due Process Clause of the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT, ratified in 1868, declares,”[N]or shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” (§ 1). This clause limits the powers of the states, rather than those of the federal government.

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment has also been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in the twentieth century to incorporate protections of the BILL OF RIGHTS, so that those protections apply to the states as well as to the federal government. Thus, the Due Process Clause serves as the means whereby the Bill of Rights has become binding on state governments as well as on the federal government.

However, the Maryland Board of Physicians, itself, has absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. They have, openly, and brazenly, set up their own set of rules, doing, in fact, whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want. With that, the board has demonstrated, not only that they are out of control, but that they are so far out of control that they cannot be trusted to act on anything, at any time, representing the people of Maryland. They simply need to be shut down.

Shut down.

Can you really shut down a medical board? Oh yes.

Is the Maryland Board of Physicians close to having that happen? Yup.

Why? This isn’t the first time the Board of Physicians has earned the wrath of the Maryland legislature. In fact, the last time this happened the legislature ordered specific things to happen at the Board – which the Board has simply refused to do.

More, the legislature passed some new laws telling the board what its parameters actually were. And the Board has absolutely refused to follow the new laws.

The argument has all come together in the Maryland Board of Physicians versus Mark Geier MD PhD case…

The Maryland Board of Physicians versus Mark Geier MD, PhD is the epitome of the ills of the Maryland Board defined by sunset review. It has, virtually, within its framework, everything a board could do wrong – and all of that will come out, shortly, when the Court Appeal is filed. In detail. Soon it will be obvious why the Board, and its representatives, tried so hard to keep the lid on what was happening in the Geier case, releasing only what it wanted the public to see through its unofficial Public Relations team “The skeptics.”

I’ll be blunt here. The Maryland Board of Physicians could NEVER have, neither Summarily Suspended, nor Revoked Mark Geier’s medical license, had it followed the law, and engaged in “Due Process.”

The Maryland Board knew this and tried, desperately, to hide their activities, even going so far as to threaten the attorneys involved with professional sanctions should they talk about any ongoing activity of this to the media. The Board used the “confidentiality” provisions of Maryland law, to, in my opinion, hide their illegal, unethical, activity from the public, the media, the Autism support network, and of course, the sunset review apparatus of the Maryland legislature.

10.32.02.08. 08 Confidentiality.. A. Except for formal charging documents, notices of intent to deny, or as otherwise provided by law, the proceedings of the Board are confidential, and the confidentiality of the proceedings cannot be waived by the parties. B. The recommended decision by an administrative law judge is confidential, and the respondent cannot waive the confidentiality of the contested case proceedings or of the patients whose care is reflected in the record of the proceedings.

Why? Because the action against Mark Geier was NEVER intended to be a real Board complaint process. It was intended, all along, to be an intentional defamation focusing on destroying Mark Geier’s abilities to (1) financially pursue his activities as an anti mercury-in-vaccine advocate by removing his medical practice income source, (2) act as an expert witness in Autism, and other mercury-in-vaccine damage issues cases, (3) discredit his name in the academic arena, thereby smearing his over one hundred peer reviewed papers on the mercury-in-vaccine issue. (4) Stop children from recovering from Autism with real treatments that work – especially if those treatments deal with the effects of vaccine damage.

In short – the Maryland Board of Physicians was the tool picked to silence Mark Geier MD, PhD on vaccine issues.

And once again let me say The Maryland Board of Physicians could NEVER have, neither Summarily Suspended, nor Revoked Mark Geier’s medical license, had it followed the law, and engaged in “Due Process.”

Let me show you what I mean…

I know how the Geier Appeal is being organized. But, I’m not going to give all of the strategy away here today. I’m going to highlight some important points so you, the reader, gets the picture.

Take a quick look at this chart I got from the Maryland State Bar Association – called the Maryland Board of Physicians Activities from Complaint to Resolution chart. It would be helpful if this chart actually represented what happens in the complain Process – but it does not. It is clear, in reality, that this process is short-cutted, and abused, continuously, by the Maryland Board of Physicians. I will explain further into the article, and show you examples.

We’ll start with this – Maryland statute [Md. Health Occ. Art., Sec. 14‐401(e) (1) (ii)]requires that the Board hire an Ohio based company, Permedion, to provide TWO INDEPENDENT peer reviewers to review a case. If the two reviewers do not agree, the Board uses a third peer reviewer.

With Permedion, those peer reviewers must meet minimum qualifications. You cannot have a Podiatrist peer reviewing an Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. The peer reviewer needs to have current clinical experience in the area to be reviewed. But most importantly:

Conflict of Interest Protections – Each reviewer signs a conflict of interest agreement and cannot review a case that they have previously reviewed or in which they have been involved in any way. They can hold no professional, familial, financial or other relation to any facility, health plan, physician, enrollee/patient, or drug company associated with the case.

It is here we will find the most corruption in the Maryland Board’s system.

C. The actual sections of law that govern the Board’s operation, [Md. Health Occ. Art., Sec. 14‐401] are very clear, and once read and compared to the reality of the Board’s daily life, make you wonder if, in fact, anyone at the Board has ever read their governing sections. For instance, read the last two subsections of 14-401(k):

(k) (1) It is the intent of this section that the disposition of every complaint against a licensee that sets forth allegations of grounds for disciplinary action filed with the Board shall be completed as expeditiously as possible and, in any event, within 18 months after the complaint was received by the Board.

(2) If the Board is unable to complete the disposition of a complaint within 1 year, the Board shall include in the record of that complaint a detailed explanation of the reason for the delay.

I guess the board members are too busy to read all the way down to the bottom of the law section that governs their activities?

Because, on August 14th, 2006 a woman named Lisa Randall filed a long, complicated, Board Complaint (attached) against Mark Geier MD, using, as the basis for her complaint, a series of articles about the Geiers written by another woman named Kathleen Seidel.

Kathleen Seidel is one strange bird – an apparently unemployed librarian(?) with no visible income, she claims on her blog/website that brain damage “is a gift” and that physicians, or parents, who claim otherwise, should be punished (play the Twilight Zone music here). She is, to me, a whack-job cyberstalker, who fits right in with the pseudo-skeptics I describe below. The Geiers made the mistake of NOT legally reining her in a long time ago.

Even my rusty math skills show that the complaint was filed fifty four months before any action was taken. Three years after the “in any event” deadline.

So, what did the Board actually do?

In some cases it is what they didn’t do.

For instance there was a specific reason why I wrote the last article on the Geier case called “Maryland Board – Eight Minutes, Fourteen Seconds…” I was simply pointing out the obvious – the simple fact that the appointed Board Members, themselves, DO NOT ACTUALLY REVIEW CASES:

“On May 23rd, 2012 the Maryland Board of Physicians held its regular monthly meeting divided into two parts: Open and Closed sessions.

In Open session, during the May meeting, the Board approved the licensing of several hundred health care professionals, gave the new Executive Director a plaque from the Federation of State Medical Boards, issued a contract for services to the University of Maryland to study the Board, began the process of training Medical Board members to work faster, and began to deal with Sunset Review recommendations

Closed session, as you will see below, lasted four hours and twenty minutes (260 minutes total), and during that period the Board decided the fate of thirty four (34) licensees under its control, devoting a full eight minutes and fourteen seconds, on average, to each case.”

More:

“At the May 23, 2012 meeting, the very lives of thirty four health professionals in Maryland were decided , if we think about it, by a process that simply cannot work. Cases, involving the total future of health professionals, simply cannot be reviewed in eight minutes and fourteen seconds.”

So what is the REAL Maryland Board of Physicians process – the one we are not allowed to see? That’s the one we really need to look at. Because, clearly, that is the organizational structure we need to examine, testing, obviously, to determine whether there is really any “due process,” or something quite different.